The Cat's Out Of The Bag
by SereneCalamity
Summary: Jace had a plan. It wasn't a particularly good plan, but it was still a plan. And then it all got thrown off the tracks by a wet ball of fluff. Clace. Oneshot.


_So for those who know, you'll know I looove cats. And that my husband has had his arm twisted to take in quite a few kitties when he is definitely not a cat person. Haha. So that's what inspired this._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own the characters._

"Okay," Jace Herondale murmured under his breath as he paced around in the living room. It was almost midnight, which meant that his roommate—who tripled as one of his best friends and the love of his life—was due to be home shortly. "Just...Start slow, don't freak her out," he muttered as he ran his fingers through his hair and let out short breaths. "Then there's a really good chance that she might run away and never come back..." That definitely wasn't something that he wanted to think about, so he stopped himself before going too far into that.

Alexander and Isabelle Lightwood had been telling him for months now, that he should just put himself out there and be honest with her. But he couldn't help but be completely terrified that the whole thing was going to go horribly.

They had met two years ago, when Alec was moving out of the apartment that he and Jace shared to move in with his boyfriend, Magnus Bane. Jace needed a new roommate and so he had put a few flyers up at the university. He had been about to graduate—Alec was going to move out just after graduation—and he hadn't really wanted a university student moving in, especially not a first year who just wanted to party all the time, but he figured he had to start somehere.

Clarissa Morgenstern had been the third person who had responded to his ad, and when he had found out that she worked at the library and nights at a coffee shop in the weekend, he had figured he was pretty safe going with her as a roommate. She had been about to start her second year of study and she wasn't interested in staying in the student housing for another year.

He had fallen her probably about five or six weeks in to living together, and he _really_ hadn't thought that was going to happen. She was funny and she almost _always_ had paint on herself or her clothing. She was one of the sweetest people that he had ever met and she was always more than happy to listen as he vented about his supervisor at his job. She knew more about _Star Wars_ than he did and she had a _Lord of the Rings_ tattoo that wrapped around her wrist, that she kept mainly hidden by bracelets and a watch. When she got drunk, her go-to kareoke song was _Just Lose It_ by Eminem and her hangover food was just hash browns. So _many_ hash browns. She once stayed up with him until three in the morning when he had a project that he needed to finish, just to make sure _he_ stayed awake, making him coffee and massaging his shoulders from where they were cramping from being hunched over the table.

She was the most amazing person that Jace had ever met and he was utterly in love her, and she didn't have any clue.

So tonight, he was going to tell her.

He heard her key in the lock first, the scratch as she fumbled to get it in, and Jace took in a deep breath. Usually, midnight wasn't the best time to spring something so big on someone, but Clary always napped on a Saturday afternoon so that she was wide awake for her shift at the all-night coffee shop, and she was always awake and alert until about two in the morning.

The door swung open, and she was wearing a heavy rain jacket that almost engulfed her petite figure. It probably wasn't raining outside, more likely they had just had another snowfall, and Jace tried not to think about how adorable Clary looked with the hood up, the fake fur fuzzing around her face.

"Hey," Jace greeted her. Clary looked up at him, and he was surprised to find that she wasn't smiling. Usually she always got home in a good mood. He found that kind of weird, given the shift that she was pulling and he would have hated working in a customer services, especially a night shift. But there was a slightly worried expression on her face as she looked at him.

"Uh, I thought you'd be asleep," she began, giving him a weak smile.

"No, I waited up for you," Jace answered, his eyes flickering over her face and then dropping a little lower. She had her bag over her shoulder, and the front of her jacket was partially undone, the zipper only coming halfway up, and she had one arm wrapped around her middle. "What's going on? Did you hurt your arm?" Jace asked, stepping closer.

"Um..." Clary made a face and opened her mouth to say something else where there was a low mewling and Jace's eyes widened. Clary gave him a guilty smile as she unzipped her jacket and reached inside, pulling out a little grey and white ball of soggy fluff.

"A _cat_?" Jace asked with wide eyes. He didn't really have much interaction with cats, other than Magnus' two, Church and Chairman Meow, and they both _hated_ him. Not for any good reason, he attempted to be nice and pat them the first couple of times that he had met them, but they just seemed to decide that they didn't like him. "Uh—what are you doing with a cat?"

"I found it in an alley on the way home," Clary said. "He was behind a few rubbish bins and he was sad and lonely and all wet and—"

"And so you brought him home?" Jace asked, still sounding a little confused. Clary had never even mentioned that she liked cats, other than Magnus', or that she wanted one.

"Well...Yeah?" Clary bit down on her lower lip and widened her eyes hopefully. Jace sighed as he looked down at the cat that was balled up against her chest. It was looking at him with big, green eyes—very similar to Clary's—and then it opened it's mouth in a big yawn, before rubbing it's head against Clary's chest and seeming to go back to sleep.

Jace had to admit, it was pretty cute.

" _Please_ can we keep it?" Clary asked, making her eyes somehow even wider and giving him a big charming smile. Jace sighed as he looked between the kitten and his roommate. He didn't know why he bothered pausing because there was no way he could deny anything that Clary asked for.

"Okay," he sighed in resignation, and Clary let out a cheer, which disrupted the kitten.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" She did a weird little jig with her hips, leaning forward and kissing Jace quickly on the mouth before going back to petting the kitten. "Did you hear that baby? Daddy Jace is going to let you stay! He's going to let you be our little fur baby! We can set you up a bed in my room, and tomorrow we'll buy you some proper food, but we've got milk now," she carried on babbling away to the kitten, dropping her bag onto the floor and then walking through the lounge and into their small kitchen.

Jace was left standing there, near the front door, his lips still slightly pursed and his eyes wide as he tried to process what had just happen, the fact that Clary had just kissed him. He heard her chattering stop in the kitchen and he turned around, and Clary came into the doorway, a shocked look on her face, as though it had just sunk in what she had done.

"Uh, I..." Clary looked lost for words. "I just got over excited?" She attempted weakly, but Jace was already crossing the room, cupping her face in his hands and bringing his lips down on hers. He was careful not to crush the kitten, who was now purring, very content with it's position in Clary's arms. When Jace pulled away, Clary was smiling. "Thank god," she murmured. "I've been wanting to do that for ages."

As though in agreement, their latest addition to the apartment let out another little meow, pressing up so that it could rub it's head against Jace's chin, and the pair of them laughed.

 _Let me know what you think x_


End file.
